Last year, an independent study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Save the Children Canada based on Statistics Canada figures found that status First Nations children in Ontario -- those who would be affected by these cuts -- have a staggering poverty rate of 40 per cent, compared to 15 per cent for non-Indigenous children.

Canada is guilty of one of the most elemental colonial sins: trying to destroy aboriginal culture and assimilate aboriginal people. That's why Chief Theresa Spence's hunger strike matters. This time, our first peoples won't be placated with an apology in parliament, This time, the revolt is for real.